Search Results

Heavy trucks can have the capability to record vehicle status and performance data. In many applications, this capability is intrinsic to the powerplant’s electronic controls. However little information has been published regarding Heavy Vehicle Event Data Recorder (HVEDR) data obtained from Mack trucks equipped with the V-MAC vehicle electronic control units. This study is focused on data from Mack trucks and the influence of wheel slip on the HVEDR-reported vehicle speed. Additionally, the influence of variables such as initial speed and loaded condition are discussed. A late model Class 8 Mack was instrumented with a calibrated data acquisition package (DAQ) and put through a series of tests so that the HVEDR data could be compared to the data collected by the DAQ.

Vehicle to vehicle sideswipe collisions may involve contact between a vehicle body and a contacting vehicle's rotating wheels, tires and lug nuts. During a sideswipe collision between a truck and an automobile it is not uncommon to see lug marks in the shape of consecutive damage loops or strikes on the side of the impacted vehicle. The damage loops or strikes are generated by the protruding lug nuts of the truck wheel as it passes by the impacted vehicle at a shallow angle. Additionally, rubber transfers due to contact with the tire sidewall and metal scraping from the wheel rim also leave distinctive shapes on the sides of the contacted vehicle body. The tire, rim, lug nut markings and associated damage manifest themselves as a special case of the epitrochoid and can be geometrically and mathematically described. Presented is a derivation of the equations that govern the lug, rim and tire positions and relative motions.